Thirsty

It is usual to wake up in the morning with my cat's face right on my upper lip. She sniffs and tips her cold, wet nose right to my skin. I think, "maybe she forgot what my upper lip smelled like from the morning before, I don't know." The rate in which my body and mind dart into consciousness is just too fast for my liking, but there's nothing I can do. If I close our bedroom door, she sits on the other side and meows until we let her in. It's sweet how attached she is to us, and she is definitely a good substitute for a child right now, but why my upper lip? And why at 6am?

Today at the bus station I watched a man and his full-grown boxer try to drink from the water fountain (in Switzerland there are fountains everywhere for you or your animal or any other creature in the area to drink from. They are very decorative and the water is completely pure). The dog couldn't reach where the water was sprouting up from, so his owner re-directed the flow of the water by splashing it towards the dog's mouth with his hand. The dog tried and tried to get the water, but it just wasn't enough. Finally, he stood on his hind legs, reaching as far and as tall as he could, and put his mouth to the fountain pool and drank drank drank. The owner was sympathetic and watched while his dog drank for about 20 seconds. (I'm sure there are handful of Swiss people who would have found this unsanitary and complained, but since the water coming from the spout was still intact, and the dog was only drinking from the pool at the bottom, it was fine.) Finally, the dog got some water!

We accidentally left Shelby's water bowl empty for almost two days this week. We are usually very good about making sure she has enough food and water, but for some odd reason she drank all the water in her bowl so quickly that we should have refilled it sooner but didn't. I realized after she started drinking from the dish in the sink that she was thirsty so I refilled it. A few days later the same thing happened only she didn't drink from the sink, she drank from a glass of homemade lens cleaner I had sitting out with my equipment which consisted of whisky, water, and dish soap. I only assume she drank from this because I discovered a large section of liquid vomit on our hardwood floor close to where the glass was placed. (I'm assuming this mixture caused the vomit because I didn't see her drink from it with my eyes). I was reminded of our cat from when I was a child, Socks, who I unfortunately found on the back-yard sidewalk covered with ants and as stiff as a stuffed prized-bird. Mom told us later that she must have licked the cleaner spread out across the garage floor. I remember finding Socks and thinking oh my goodness, she's really hard! Poor thing just wanted something to drink... and it ended up killing her.

I often think that people desire the same fulfillment in their lives. There is nothing like that feeling of swallowing cold, clean water after a long, sweaty day in the hot sun. The consumption is bliss! We all want big drink of water to quench the thirst that is so deeply rooted in us. There is a deep thirst for communion with one another, with God, for love, for companionship, for truth. Unfortunately, the things we often think are fulfilling and quenching our souls are in fact the very things that poison and kill the possibility for living river to flow within us.

I know how desperate my spirit can get for a deep drink of water. Living in a place where people speak an un-written language, it's quite difficult to experience the presence of God in a message or a sermon. I was stuck in this frustrating mentality for a few months, and it took a good friend to point out that my spiritual life cannot be characterized but how good a message is but instead with how God uses the little things, the things not lost in translation, to point out the bigger picture. When I watched the boxer doing everything he could to get that drink this morning, it was like I was looking in the mirror. I've been so desperate... begging God for my spirit to hear something profound, something I can share, something I can write down! I've also realized that when He comes and His presence fills a place, language doesn't matter. In my heart, this was a freeing revelation.

"Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." John 7: 37-38

You see, God will lead you to the trough, but He won't make you drink. If you want to be filled, you must drink.